1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to displaying data storage system information.
2. Description of Prior Art
Information services and data processing industries in general have rapidly expanded as a result of the need for computer systems to manage and store large amounts of data. As an example, financial service companies such as banks, mutual fund companies and the like now, more than ever before, require access to many hundreds of gigabytes or even terabytes of data and files stored in high capacity data storage systems. Other types of service companies have similar needs for data storage.
Data storage system developers have responded to the increased need for storage by integrating high capacity data storage systems, data communications devices (e.g., switches), and computer systems (e.g., host computers or servers) into so-called “storage networks” or “Storage Area Networks” (SANs.)
In general, a storage area network is a collection of data storage systems that are networked together via a switching fabric to a number of host computer systems operating as servers. The host computers access data stored in the data storage systems (of a respective storage area network) on behalf of client computers that request data from the data storage systems. For example, according to conventional applications, upon receiving a storage access request, a respective host computer in the storage area network accesses a large repository of storage through the switching fabric of the storage area network on behalf of the requesting client. Thus, via the host computer (e.g., server), a client has access to the shared storage system through the host computer. In many applications, storage area networks support hi-speed acquisitions of data so that the host servers are able to promptly retrieve and store data from the data storage system.
Conventional storage area network management applications typically include a graphical user interface (GUI) that enables a network manager to graphically manage, control, and configure various types of hardware and software resources associated with a corresponding managed storage area network. For example, one conventional storage management application generates a graphical user interface utilized by a storage administrator to graphically select, interact with, and manage local or remote devices and software processes associated with the storage area network. Based on use of the graphical user interface in combination with an input device such as a hand operated mouse and corresponding pointer displayed on a viewing screen or other display, a storage administrator is able to manage hardware and software entities such as file systems, databases, storage devices, volumes, peripherals, network data communications devices, etc., associated with the storage area network. Consequently, a storage management station and associated management software enables a storage administrator (a person responsible for managing the storage network) to manage the storage area network and its resources.
One example of this kind of graphical user interface includes a screen presentation that may include toolbars with accompanying menus and menu items as well as displays such as graphs, maps or trees.
In a display to which the term “tree” presentation or display is applied, one element in the tree is visually connected from another element in the tree somewhat reminiscent of a tree-branching, giving rise to the term. This display would be familiar to users of various commercially-available software packages, such as Microsoft's Windows Explorer® software. The element at treetop is normally called a “root node” or “parent” and elements connected directly below and from that root node are termed “children” of that root node. Children of that root node's children are “grandchildren” of the root node, etc., comprising the “descendents” of that root node. Any child node in the descendent hierarchy can be selected or considered as a “local root node” for its descendents. These displayed nodes, which are visible to computer users, are normally constructed within the computer system or network as software “objects” which are then handled or controlled by object-oriented software running in the system or network.
A typical computer network being used today that can run object oriented software is a client-server network, the client being the user (GUI) or workstation and the server being software (discrete or distributed throughout the network) which serves the client. In this network, a computer system can employ one or more object-oriented computer languages such as C++, XML (eXtensible Markup Language), JAVA, and/or others. Briefly, an object, in computer software terms, is a dedicated area of memory which can be thought of as an impervious container holding both data and instructions within itself, both defining itself and its relationships to other objects in the computer system or network. Such object or node can send and receive messages to and from other objects, respond and react to such messages (e.g. commands) but shall normally be impervious to internal scrutiny. For example, in a computer data storage system (a kind of computer) each object (system object) may describe or relate to a specific tangible detail in the storage system or in the storage system's processor (e.g., details such as those describing or relating to aspects of operation of the processor's cooling-fan, power switch, cache memory, power supply, disk drive interface, individual disks, etc.). These tangible objects (nodes) within the storage processor in the storage system can send messages to each other within the storage system and to other objects outside the storage system over the network with which they are operatively coupled. The relationship between these specific objects in the storage processor is usually visualized or characterized as the tree to which reference was earlier made. In this tree, many children may typically hang from the same parent. In addition to these kinds of tangible objects, logical units (LUNs) are other nodes or objects that can be contained within a tree. Also, the storage processor itself and/or the storage system itself can be objects and interact as individual nodes, respectively, with other nodes in their network.
The tree relationship of these node objects may be displayed in tree fashion on the terminal screen of the GUI. This display is controlled, in part, by a large, fixed body of complex code which “paints” this tree display on the terminal screen.